Biergärten in the Tiergarten

As well as being an oasis of calm in the heart of Berlin and a great place to lay in the grass and catch some sun, the Tiergarten is home to two of my favourite outdoor drinking spots in Berlin.

Walking around such a huge park can be very thirsty work and the Biergärten (Beer Gardens) of Schleusenkrug and Café am Neuen See are great places to have a beer by the water.

Schleusenkrug

Schleusenkrug is just a short walk from Tiergarten or Zoologischer Garten S-Bahn stations and alongside the fences of the Berlin Zoo.

As well as serving great beer (I like the Veltins here) there is a kitchen and barbecue grill serving sausages and some traditional German dishes.

Those customers lucky enough to get a seat by the Landwehrkanal can watch boats negotiating the locks after which the Biergarten was named.

The one drawback of the location is the proximity of the rail tracks, which means that the peace is broken by passing trains.

Café am Neuen See

Café am Neuen See is a larger Biergarten and gets its name from its position on the banks of the Neuer See (New Lake), where you can work up a thirst by rowing a boat.

Löwenbräu is my drink of choice here and, though I haven’t eaten them, the stonebaked pizzas look and smell great and there is a restaurant in addition to the Biergarten.

You can walk from one Biergarten to the other with the Zoo on one side and the Landwehrkanal on the other.  You even have a view into some of the animal enclosures and can see the Llamas for example.

The trees at both Schleusenkrug and Café am Neuen See are strung with lights so that the drinking can continue into the night.